Nothing lasts forever, I mused, as I thumped eastward along the A69. It was inevitable that this pleasantly rural highway would suffer at the hands of progress, but the sight of a new stretch of dual carriageway each time I travel it is depressing. Parting company with the aspiring motorway at Greenhead, I took the high road along Hadrian's wall before turning north towards Cheviots. A 100 miles above the M62 and what clueless sotherners call the north, I was heading for Kielder Forest and the Scottish border, some 12 miles away.
As I rode, I reflected too on the demise of the bike that carried me. The XT600 Tenere has gone from Yamaha's 1991 catalogue, though the name survives attached to an all new Buck Rogers affair. The motor lives on in the 600E, but the combination that first brought weekend desert raiding to the masses has finally bitten the dust. Perhaps it was time. Once the best selling motorcycle in Europe, cost cutting and copycat styling were slowly turning the Tenere into a two wheeled bread van.
The bike is a 1986 model, from the days when big trailers still looked like dirt bikes. A high front mudguard, single headlight and no windscreen are the obvious differences from later models, but a closer looks reveals a few more. Anodised aluminium wheels, a drum brake at the back and a kickstart all distinguish the older bike. The tank is a rounder, much more pleasant affair and the sidepanels look like they were actually designed as part of the bike rather than being cut from bits of leftover plastic.
Plodding around the backroads of Northumberland is the sort of thing this bike is good at. Its six gallon tank is more useful than the ordinary XT's little one, typically giving more than 250 miles before hitting reserve. On the other hand, pushing it into the wind on a fast road is as frustrating as it is uncomfortable.
I followed the road up to where my map showed a dotted line cutting off into the forest. This turned out to be a forestry commission road, and despite the £1 toll I decided to have a go. The first couple of miles were tarmac, but after that it got a bit hairy. Ruts and pot-holes aside, the horrible flinty surface played havoc with the tyres and threatened drastic injury in the event of a spill.
Arriving at the other end, I spent a while picking sharp stones out of the tyres. Now about 4000 miles old, these are Avon Gripsters and seem to be holding up much better than the original Dunlops. This is a bit surprising, as the compound seems very soft. The longevity is due in part to a more road orientated tread pattern, giving a larger contact area and superb road holding. The original tyres lasted 7000 rear and 9000 miles front. The front would have done another 1500 miles but I wasn't taking any chances.
The chain gave up the ghost at 13000 miles, mostly due to lack of maintenance. The main reason for this is the absence of a centrestand, making application of chain lube a bit tedious and chain adjustment downright difficult. However, faced with an overtight chain in the wilds of the Lake district, I came up with a novel way of elevating the back wheel.
I discovered that one way to get the back end off the ground was to tip the bike up on to the sidestand and front wheel, with the steering on full lock, and rest the end of the handlebar against a tree! At a certain distance from the tree (a trade secret), the angle was just right and left the bike standing on its head with the back wheel about three feet in the air. The possibilities for catastrophe are obvious, and a strong elastic band around the front brake lever is useful insurance!
When I found out how much a new chain and sprocket set cost, I decided to take a keener interest in chain maintenance. A heavy duty O-ring chain and sprockets cost around £60, and having shelled out this much, I went on and bought a Scottoiler too. This needs to be plumbed into the carb, as it operates on the vacuum created at the engine side when the throttle is closed. Luckily, the Tenere's fuel pump is driven by the same mechanism, so connection is a simple matter of tapping into the right hose. Plain XT600 owners will need to drill a hole in the inlet rubber.
I brought the bike from a dealer with 1900 miles on the clock, that figure matching the price quite closely. However, it was over two years old and seems to have been neglected and/or mistreated in the engine department. It soon developed some serious noises, ending up with a rebore and a new set of rockers after only 5000 miles.
It's worth noting that the engine can only take two rebores and the second takes the bore out by 1mm and increases the capacity to 608cc. There are insurance implications here and it may be a better idea to go for a new or secondhand cylinder. A new one will set you back £140. The piston is around £40 and piston rings £12. These are genuine Yamaha prices - patterns may be substantially cheaper. Then there are the gaskets (£22 head, £4 base) and gudgeon pin (£9). The message is clear - regular oil changes and warming up the engine carefully are essential!
Routine servicing is reasonably straightforward, though the enormous tank has to be removed before you can get at the spark plug. The number of valves has doubled since the old XT500, so setting the tappets is twice as much work. Adjustment is by locknut and a small square headed adjuster, and should be done cold. The exhaust valves couldn't be easier to get at, but the inlet valves are a bit tricky.
Draining the oil is a two stage affair, with half the oil laying in the sump and half in the oil tank. The tank has a weird extension tube that has to be wound out before removing the drain plug itself - the idea is to make the dribbling oil miss the frame on the way down. As the bike leans so far over on its stand, this doesn't work so well.
When changing oil without replacing the filter, the air bleed screw has to come out. Located at the top of the filter housing, the 8mm hexagonal bolt is easy to round off with the toolkit spanner. It has a nice deep Phillips driver slot cut into the top but as it sits just below the exhaust pipe, it's impossible to get at it.
The rear suspension has a full complement of grease nipples but the left-hand swinging arm nipple points inwards and needs a goose-necked grease gun to get at it. The back brake is a drum so maintenance is minimal and the shoes last for ages. The front brake (and rear on the later models) is a disc with the usual caliper problems.
Miscellaneous replacements have included a clutch cable, a tacho cable and fork gaiters, the latter an incredible £24 each! I tried a cheap pair but they fell to pieces in less than three months. The exhaust is starting to show signs of serious rust in the out of the way areas and will need attention soon.
Lasting impressions of the bike are generally favourable. As a London commuter it's brilliant, though not so economical. As a long haul tourer it's pretty miserable and going fast for any length of time is a chore. Back road thumping on twisty and hilly terrain is really what it's all about. In these condition the Tenere handles exceptionally well. Its forty horsepower provides more than enough stomp and it has the satisfyingly chunky power delivery which is characteristic of all big singles.
Secondhand Teneres come reasonably cheap these days, though many are a bit shabby. There is a tendency to load up with headlamp grilles, mudguard braces, alloy handlebars and other fake off road tackle, and many people seem to cover the bikes in Paris Dakar stickers instead of cleaning them. Even so, a good example can be had for well under two grand.
The Tenere is a practical, fun bike and in the face of soaring labour costs, is simple enough for the home mechanic. With reasonable all round performance, it offers a leisurely alternative to the hysterical high tech road racers. If you like to actually see the countryside as you ride through it and want a bike with a bit of character you could do a lot worse.
And mine's not for sale.
Mark Hurst
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In Sept '87 I bought a new red and white Yamaha XT600 from Queens Park Motors. My XT has now covered nearly 30,000 miles including a run down to Spain and some mild off road work, and has never missed a beat or let me down. The only proviso is that you must junk the sidestand engine kill switch straight away, otherwise you will have lots of amusement with the engine cutting out.
The XT600 is an update on the old XT500, although the engines are entirely different, the 600 featuring 4 valves, twin carbs and an engine balancer to take out the worst of the vibes that would naturally occur from a big single. However, it's fairly obvious from my time with the XT600 that Yamaha have eliminated most of the problems that plagued earlier models - weak pistons and iffy power delivery being the most prominent.
I've made a few changes which includes spraying the white bits black and fitting a Motad stainless steel exhaust system which caused no problems (although performance and economy seemed to stay the same) and banished the perennial problem of rusting exhausts once and for all. The headlamp was puny and so replaced with an 8" searchlight from an XS850 - well wicked. Unlike many trail bikes, the XT comes with a more than adequate 12V electrical system.
The trip to Spain included a 600 mile dash to catch the ferry back, which revealed that the seat was far too hard for long, fast journeys. We managed to average 70mph over various types of road despite the trail orientated riding position, so these bikes are quite useful at moderate speed touring.
On some of the twisty sections of some long mountain trails (that we had earlier in the tour encountered), friends on Teneres came off - the bikes were dented but still rideable, which goes to show they are tough beasts. Town riding was a cinch, with loads of low down power, a perfect riding position, narrowness and excellent chuckability. I could only smile at the attempts of some race replica mounted riders, their heads buried in the clocks, their poor backs almost dislocated and their hands halfway down the forks, they had no chance of keeping up unless they resorted to really dangerous riding.
There is enough power to get an easy 90mph up, with the ton just possible. Obviously, the riding position produces quite a bit of arm and shoulder ache at those kinds of speeds. Apart from the seat, it'll hold between 70 to 80mph for as long as you need, with only a modicum of engine vibration, more an indication that the engine is working away that the nasty drumming the old XT500 gave out at similar speeds. In almost all respects, apart perhaps from the sheer brutality of the 500's looks, the 600 is a better motorcycle than the 500.
I don't tend to run the bike flat out everywhere, for one thing fuel consumption drops to less than 50mpg instead of the much more acceptable 65mpg average that it still manages to return on lead free fuel. It uses no oil but eats its chain and sprockets every 12000 miles, although I've recently fitted a Scottoiler which should extend chain life and the frequency of maintenance adjustments. Rapid chain wear is a consequence of single cylinder power pulse delivery, so it will be interesting to see the effectiveness of the oiler in such an harsh environment.
Rear tyres last about 6000 miles and fronts 10,000 - at present I'm on MT50s which feel good so far. I've given the bike a full overhaul, including new piston rings which were probably not needed and rebuilt the monoshock, replacing a couple of bolts and bushes. The steering head bearings were changed as Yamaha appeared to omit any grease when they were assembled, but the wheel bearings are still sound.
The brakes are fine and brake pad wear is normal for a mild mannered 600. When initially introduced to dirt bikes, disc brakes were a laugh, but with improvements in brake technology they are usable off road and a single front disc is the bare necessity on today's traffic infested roads. The calipers have not been prone to seizing up even after being immersed in mud.
However, the rear spokes needed upgrading two sizes - they loosen off quite quickly over rough going and the back end can start to feel very queasy, a pity with otherwise adequate rear suspension doing a reasonable job of keeping the back wheel under control. Comfort, thanks to the long travel suspension, is excellent on the road, something all the more necessary with ever increasing neglect ruining most of our roads. Off road, they don't bottom out too often, so, all in all, not a bad compromise and the suspension units are still usable, something that could not be said of plenty of bikes after three years abuse.
The engine produces bags of torque, especially between 3000 and 5000rpm, 4000rpm equating to 70mph in top. This makes for a very relaxing riding and overtaking in top can be accomplished without resorting to frenzied gearbox action. Redlining the engine does, admittedly, produce intrusive vibration but if you're doing that to one of these engines all the time then you've bought the wrong kind of bike. Big singles are very laid back devices and should be ridden as such.
Power delivery is very different to multi-whiners, depending on torque rather than massive revs means even moderate use of the throttle can be very grin inducing. There are some lunatics around who bung on road tyres and use them as fast road bikes, cornering on the footrests and giving hyperbikes the horrors around narrower A roads and on B roads, not to mention in town.
By its very nature, wheelies and rather lurid slides can be accomplished without too much effort, although the effect on chain and tyre wear is a pretty nasty. For mild off road use it is just fine, for the really serious stuff it can get to be a bit of handful - but it does have the torque to power out of situations that would have smaller bikes in real trouble. Swings and roundabouts.
For those tired of megabikes and race replicas, but who still want a bit of pose value coupled with value for money and backed up with usable power with handling to match, it's worth considering Yamaha's big thumper. They really grow on you.
Mike McCulloch
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Simple, straightforward motorcycles, at least over 125cc in size, are getting very rare these days. Things like the GN and SR250's are too horrible to contemplate. That leaves a couple of trail bikes worth considering. Preeminent amongst those is the long-lived Yamaha XT600E. Big thumper trail bikes are not really concerned with off-road wildness but use the style of Paris Dakar machines to hide the plainness of their design.
In these circles the XT is relatively restrained, with none of the acres of excessive plastic although it does have one huge bird catcher of a mudguard about a foot above the front wheel. That was easily replaced with something more useful for road riding. A pair of road tyres completed the transformation of the XT. I could have done something about the long travel suspension but that was pretty useful given the large pot-holes that abound in modern roads.
The XT was a mere five months and 2000 miles old when I bought it, in perfect condition. I'd paid a hundred quid deposit and by the time I got back with the rest of the cash he'd had twenty calls. I knew if I didn't like it I could always flog if off at a small profit. One excellent luxury that the XT has is an electric starter than overcomes all the usual hassles of starting a 600cc single. It makes the difference between having a tolerable relationship and falling in love with a bike.
The 595cc engine has a bore and stroke of 95x84mm, developing 45hp at 6500rpm. It's an aircooled SOHC unit with four valves, that in the past had a bit of a reputation for eating its big piston but that didn't stop people from thrashing them across deserts and whole continents. By any standards the engine is a very simple unit, although it does have a separate oil supply from the top frame rail rather than the more usual wet sump. If necessary, an easy one to strip down in the middle of nowhere.
Whilst that might be reassuring, it was far from my mind as I did my first tentative couple of miles. The 34 inch seat height was very disconcerting, giving the bike a tall feel but I liked being able to see far ahead over the top of cars. The thumper motor didn't seem to vibrate at low revs, as such, but there was a distinct feel of having a big piston moving up and down. This wasn't some remote, civilized multi but a bike that liked to live and breathe a little. The exhaust was quiet but a deep, gentle note.
After I'd become used to the riding position, which was upright without being extreme, and worked my way into the feel of the bike, I began to relax and revel in the qualities of my new bolide. Come 3000 revs the soft nature of the engine became a bit harder and the bike galloped rather than screamed forward. By 7000 revs she was gasping for breath and churning out some vibration. The one time I did 8000 revs the pegs vibrated so harshly my feet started to bounce off them.
After just a couple of days the XT and I were old friends, well used to each other's way. The only minor annoyance was that it stalled whilst waiting at junctions, something that was easily overcome with the electric starter. The clutch could've had a bit more feel, as well. I ended up revving the engine like a juvenile delinquent to stop it cutting out.
With a mass of only 350lbs the XT was dead easy to chuck around but just heavy enough not to be knocked about by bumps or howling gales. The long travel suspension was a godsend on rough roads. And the power seemed to be exactly where I wanted it, a lovely flow of torque between 25 and 80mph in top gear. I often took a perverse delight in running around in fifth, seeing for how long I could avoid changing gear. Very, very careful use of the throttle would get speed down to 15mph in top gear. The XT could be ridden to a standstill with both feet still on the pegs, such was the excellence of its balance and neutrality of its steering.
The other side of the bike was using the gearbox and the throttle, keeping the revs between 5000 and 7000, where it made both its maximum power and torque. It was never so fast as to have you reaching for the heart tablets but its way of laying down the power had me grinning from ear to ear on most rides without even going too berserk.
There was also a certain relaxation in the way it cruised at 70 to 80mph. Some bikes, with frenetic natures, insist that you speed across the landscape at incredible velocities. Singles, boxers and vee-twins have a rather different kind of character, a deeper nature with a mellow outlook that allows enjoyment without excessive speed. All those who are dismissing this as the mere ramblings of some senile old fool who has long lost his edge should give an XT600, or a boxer BMW, a leg over before putting mouth before brain and experience.
As bikes like the XT are supposed to be practical it wasn't long before I was taking it far afield for long weekends, with a pile of camping gear on the back and a certain amount of trepidation in my heart. It wasn't the bike I was worried about but the camping part of the experience and the perils of travelling to strange and undoubtedly weird places like Wales and Scotland.
The first problem was the petrol tank. The combination of less than three gallons and around 60mpg (45mpg when really thrashed) meant it was dead easy to run out of fuel miles from anywhere in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. After the first time it happened, when I was lucky to cadge some fuel from a passing motorist, I strapped a gallon's worth on the back. Also, being a single, when the fuel runs out everything goes completely dead very suddenly. Close observation of this phenomenon revealed that there was a very slight, singular cough just before the engine went dead. I usually catch it, now, before it catches me out.
Another problem was my bag taking a liking to the high rise exhaust. The first I knew of this was my clothes flying down the road - I caught a glimpse of them in the mirrors (good but attacked, from time to time, with vibration). My rather expensive bag had a huge hole in it and I had hardly any clothes left. There is a heat shield on the exhaust but it gets quite hot.
The seat was comfortable for about a 100 miles, then some shuffling around was needed for the next 50 miles. After that it was time to stop for fuel and have a walk about to stretch slightly cramped muscles while life returned to my backside. I can't say that I was upset by any extended exposure to the single cylinder engine, which had balancers that took care of most of the vibration, but I had the rear bulb blow twice.
That made me wary of doing much night riding, not helped any by a rather inadequate front headlamp. It's just not up to more than 40mph on deserted country roads. Even then I was riding along one Welsh byway at night with 35mph on the clock when what I thought was a bit of grey concrete in the road turned out to be a very large sheep. In retrospect, the way the front wheel rode over the animal without throwing a massive wobble was quite impressive. At the time, even in the dark, slicing a sheep in half was enough of a shock, after we'd ground to a halt, to make me throw up. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards about sheep! There didn't seem any easy way of upgrading the front lamp.
The XT had a pretty dumb brake set-up, with a rear disc that gave no indication of how far it was off locking up the wheel and a front disc that was so powerful it would bounce the forks on their stops whilst twisting the legs something rotten. Very bowel moving was the best description but the couple of times I had to panic brake they pulled the XT up very quickly and saved some car driver from having his cage wrecked.
Part of the brake dive was down to the softly sprung front forks, without which I would've had a hard time dealing with the pot-holes. They were sensibly covered with gaiters but the plastic already had a couple or cracks when I bought the bike and I could see a little bit of rust underneath. I pulled the gaiters up and set to with the Solvol before the corrosion spread. A layer of grease on the forks and some tape over the cracks in the gaiters looked likely to extend life. Which was okay but a bit bad on a newish bike with so few miles under its wheels.
I had become so paranoid with all the crud that was covering the rear mono-track suspension that I pulled it all apart before it corroded in solid. There was sod all grease on the shafts but they were not yet scored, so another pile of grease was used during their reassembly. The large gap around the swinging arm was filled with some rubber sheet to stop all the crud being thrown off the back wheel on to the suspension. I doubt if it would last long if actually taken off-road. Whilst it was apart I turned the rear shock up to its highest setting as slight weaves were starting to come in at 90mph.
A bit of a pain to sort out but worth doing if you want to keep a bike for a long time. The XT600E's best described as a very friendly bike that's as easy to ride as it is fun. I hope to keep mine for the next couple of years and ride it all over Europe.
H.H.D.
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Spring finally sprang, a young man's fancy turned lightly to thoughts of some horny tackle for the summer. Something red and white with Yamaha on the tank. Actually, I'd been thinking of a Dominator as my brother had just chopped in his 140k R80RT for one, but the day of my impulse buy there weren't any about and a gleaming 3k XT600E caught my eye and wallet.
I know dealers are a dirty word in the UMG, and most everywhere else, but as a despatcher the sheer convenience of taking off a Thursday - the day after MCN comes out - riding to the dealer advertising the bike of my dreams, switching bikes and going to work on Friday before I'd figured out how the damn thing works, is unbeatable.
3k was the mileage and 3k was the price, a price I'd baulked at paying for a five year old Dommie, but what the hell. I got a thousand part-ex for my CX500B after trebling the mileage in eight months. That had cost £1500 from the same dealer in Luton, famous for their splendidly sexist ads for Wop metal in the seventies when they had the franchise.
Fellow travellers in the smoke laughed when I told them what I'd paid for a CX, laughed again when I kept it really shiny through the winter, but a clean CX in London attracts more admiring glances from despatchers and cagers alike than any Kings Road vee-twin; Wop or Yank.
God, I loved that bike. Top heavy, yes. Brakes, no. But learning to sling it underneath sad tossers on purple GSXR750s and Nordwests on roundabouts was all part of the fun. In American movies they used to race for pink-slips. I reckon it should be law that if you stuff some fag or born again biker they should hand over their bike on the spot. That way, we Johnnies who are trying to put some art into what we do would get the Ducatis, and such-like, we deserve and they'd get the sad old shit we're stuck with that they really need to do 25mph around corners and wobble between cars.
Anyway, I digress. Jumping on the XT put a smile on my face like two weeks in Thailand. 100lbs less weight and a front brake that worked opened up whole new horizons. The bike was still on its OE Bridgestone Trailwings, the rear stepping out and sliding beautifully out of turns - just like Eddie - while the huge front hoop remained nonchalant, tracking true through the daylight gap between walls of tourists who were unsure whether to look left, right or just go home. Hey, I've been a stranger in foreign cities and I'm just getting my own back.
The suspension is the best I've ever had, which isn't saying that much as the trickest bikes I've owned were a GSX1000 Kat, a YPVS F2 and a GPX750. The latter ruined by a tea-trolley 16 inch front wheel and anti-dive. No bouncy, wallowing mush on this trailie, though. Firm and supple like a teenage Russian gymnast (the Cold War wasn't all bad), totally unfazed by 80-90mph sweeping bends - which is flat out anyway.
The front end maintained its poise at traffic light stoppies far better than the CX. Speaking of my gorgeous black and red vee-twin, which 15 years ago was on a technical plane only recently attained by Ducati and still beyond Moto Guzzi and BMW, the OE rear shocks were still doing fine at 55k, so stuff your journo Fade Very Quickly crap-speak.
One of the many endearing features of the XT is a quick detach baffle - held in place by a single allen bolt. You'd have to be a complete arsehole to work 12 hours a day in Central London with it out, but for blatting around country lanes at the weekend, scaring horses, etc - it's great! Cagers check their rear view mirrors when you're 200 yards behind them. In fact, I'm surprised the monkeys of Marsham Street don't recommend it as a safety aid, much better than dayglo bibs. Sounds like the old days - hey, Johnny, what you rebelling against?
It doesn't say much for my get it up prowess that it took me 12000 miles to figure out that I didn't need to use the clutch for standing start wheelies. Just crack open the throttle at walking pace and watch those last straggling peds clear the crossing.
At 6000 miles, with one millimetre of tread left, the rear Trailwing was replaced with the other OE tyre, the Dunlop Trailmax. Starting out with one millimetre more tread it lasted a predictable 1000 miles more, feeling a little better on the road. The real change came with a pair of Avon Gripsters. Yes, I know every DT125 and Dommie in London wears 'em but I like to shop round before going for the obvious. Same on my CX500 (oh god, he won't let it lie, will he) - I tried Conti's, Michelins and Metzelers before knowing - that's knowing not reading - that Avons grip better and last longer.
You might think that those Wurzels down in Avon would be owing me a scrumpy or two by now but hang on. With the Gripsters fitted what had previously been a slight weave at 95 to 100mph on OE tyres turned into a flapping in the breeze. As in ohmigod-ahm-gonna-die headshakes at my preferred cruising speed of 80mph. Yeah, I know, death or glory becomes just another story but a guy's gotta earn his daily bread, what with twelve points an' all. This was seriously unnerving. With clip-ons and the resulting front end bias it'd probably have been a lot more than that.
After repeated, embarrassing, attempts to overtake 75mph cars on the M4, shutting the throttle (accelerating through it isn't much of an option on an XT600) and pulling in behind them, bringing to mind those 12hp glory days, I found that relaxing my grip - the last thing that comes to mind when you're shitting yourself - allowed the bike to settle down to some semblance of forward motion. I got some funny looks, though, especially from other bikers as I passed them in a 90mph death wobble.
After 2500 miles the problem just went away so I reckon the new front's rounded profile had tipped the light, responsive steering into the twilight zone. Wet weather grip is much better. As for cornering, the bike now turns like those in 'Tron'. Getting the pegs down is possible but unnecessary as once you're that far over you're not taking the fastest line. The most fun is to be had riding GP style - diving in straight and deep on the brakes, chucking the thing on its side to square the turn, then gassing it - the rear sliding, the front counter-steering. Ten hours of this can be a bit wearying, though, so I usually take it smooth and curvy just like Mike The Bike.
OE pads were brilliant in the dry - bite, feel, all those things you read about in Forum but perhaps a little puissant for wet weather. The old MZ plus Brembo plus Pneumat equals the Gates of Heaven equation springs to mind. EBC replacements at 11000 miles were initially disappointing but have since regained that delicious front/rear balance, while their lack of sudden bite plus the Gripsters might tempt me to work, once again, on wet days.
Oil consumption? What's that? Chain and sprockets? Still there. I only have to adjust the chain between 4-5k services if the midday sun and full moon combine in an orgy of shameless wheelies. Shouldn't be allowed. Tappets? They're in there somewhere. Hell, I just ride the thing - I don't know how it works. After despatching on an ETZ250, having to virtually rebuild the bloody thing every weekend, and sometimes during the working week, I'm quite happy to have my Jap bikes dealer-serviced every month, or so. I'm the pilot not the ground crew.
Why some despatchers are so tight-fisted, riding Superdreams with Cheng Shins and brake pads down to the metal, I'll never know. Don't they earn enough? I don't despatch for the money but because it's the last happy hunting ground for anti-social wankers like me who think that life exists somewhere other than on a TV or computer screen, but if I ever get less than £300 for a full week I think I'll decide that the risks of riding a Rainey replica wheelchair for the rest of my life outweigh the benefits.
Speaking of crashing, the XT was made for it. Second day in town, it was pushed off its sidestand by another DR. It wasn't his fault as I'd had to park my bike overlapping his. Once I'd calmed down I realised there was hardly a scratch. More recently, the cosmetics had a severe test when some rich bitch in an Audi convertible chose to ignore a red light, causing me to slam the bike into the road to avoid a traumatic amputation. It hurt the Yam a lot less than it hurt me - the tupperware bodywork was barely marked and no metal broken. Still, to end on a happier note, I'm well chuffed with the XT. As I don't have a garage I'll probably have to chop it in for a faired CX for winter but it's been a blast.
John Revell
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My best mate destruction tested an XT600 during a year's riding in Africa. He failed to break the thing and returned full of wild tales and absolute faith in the aircooled thumper. I had no inclination to head for Africa but the XT had the kind of toughness and ruggedness that's all too rare in modern motorcycles. I added it to my list of possible purchases and kept my eye open.
A five year old Tenere turned up in the local paper for £1500. Mileage was only 18000 miles but the owner warned me that it'd been heavily used off road. You know how it is, once an idea gets in your mind there's no stopping you, is there? The bashed and dented XT600 that stood before me looked like it'd been in a few war zones in its time but the engine started straight off with none of the expected rattles and knocks.
If XT's have a weak spot it's the piston rings, but their demise is pretty obvious. The owner claimed the bike was only used as a trailster at mild speeds, its dents down to his own incompetence rather than excess velocity. He was a bit of a wanker, which helped me get the price down to £1100, after telling him the frame might be bent and the clutch felt odd - both, in reality, were okay.
With its big petrol tank, you definitely feel sat in the Tenere, instantaneously part of the machinery. The motor thrums away a little but nothing to really worry about - it takes about a month until you don't notice it any more.
Performance's quite snappy up to about 90mph when it goes a bit dead. Partly down to the upright riding position and consequent poor aerodynamics; partly down to the SOHC, four valve, thumper engine running out of puff. There's only 45 horses, developed at a heady 6500 revs; the engine's much more about good old thumper torque, which peaks at 5500rpm but has an effect from a mere 2000 revs.
It bears no relationship to the old British sloggers, which revelled in their long stroke, pushrod design. Ancient history, those thumpers, which wholly lacked the ability to rev quickly because they carried huge flywheels. The XT's actually a short stroke design with a bore and stroke of 95x84mm, numbers which only make any sense in light of its multitude of valves and lack of flywheel.
Though the engine never cut out when trawling along on just a whiff of throttle, there was sometimes a definite hesitation as if it was thinking of giving up the game. Suddenly whacking open the throttle in a tall gear would fluff the engine just like on some temperamental stroker. The motor would then creak and groan but eventually catch up with the wide open throttle after emitting a deep, discontented grumble.
This all may've been down to a mismatch between the complex carb and an exhaust system that had shed most of its baffling. The bellow on full song made me think of some 150hp monster on the loose, no way reflected the fact that we were trying to break through the 100mph mark. It wasn't impossible, just damn hard work. I once saw 110mph on the clock but the engine was thrumming away like a pneumatic drill and the bars were trying to break my wrists off!
Handling was better than expected. The bike was running a Hagon shock and a beefed up front end, entirely removing the usual trail bike floppy feel. Because the engine was highly mounted there was a bit of a top heavy feel but I soon adapted to this, was flicking the bike around like a 125 after a couple of weeks.
The only time the Yam was caught out was above 95mph when the top heavy mass and long suspension travel lost it all it a big way, with the bars hammering from lock to lock. It didn't go completely overboard, if you fought against the bars it could be reduced to a relatively mild wobble. As the engine felt like it was on its last legs at such speeds, there wasn't much point indulging in such excesses.
On the good side, the bike could sustain a constant 90mph without much vibration and with excellent chassis fidelity. Even the upright riding position wasn't that much of a limit as I was so much a part of the bike and I was well braced against the pegs and seat.
The latter did limit comfort after about 60 miles, turning into a plank and going all edgy on my thighs and bum. I had to shuffle around and get up on the pegs to keep going. With the massive petrol tank there was no way that the comfort could match the range.
The XT turned in about 55mpg. If you went over 90mph for any length of time, the engine showed its annoyance by doing less than 40mpg, maybe as little as 35mpg! Getting 60mpg out of the mill meant using less than 3000 revs! Reasonable by modern Japanese standards but not good compared to old British thumpers with a similar top speed (though slower acceleration) that would manage 70 to 90mpg.
One of the weirdest things about the XT, that took it back to the days of old, was that it ran a dry sump design. The oil was contained in the frame rather than the sump. Considering that the Jap's had sussed wet sump designs in the sixties this is all a bit mad - Yamaha's reasoning was probably that without a sump the engine could have more ground clearance without ruining the centre of gravity.
There wasn't anything wrong with the system, just that it added complexity and a couple of oil pipes that could possibly break or fall off. I hadn't even realised this when I bought the bike, only found out when I wanted to do an oil change! I'm a bit of a purist and such junk engineering annoys me. Another so-called modern motorcycle I bought turned out to have a hyvoid chain primary drive - I couldn't believe it, promptly sold the bike!
I managed to hold on to the Yamaha for 10,000 miles before I sold it. I didn't do anything to the valves or carb, both too complex for me to risk messing up. So engine maintenance was just a couple of oil changes. The Yam didn't seem to mind. Less easy going was the final drive chain, which wanted daily attention but rarely got it. In the end I had to fit new sprockets and chain.
The newish knobbly tyres were down to 2mm after 10,000 miles and rather shaky in the rain but I managed to sell the bike without replacing them - I hate changing tyres, especially modern ones that need muscles Superman would envy. I was never a heavy braker, reckoned the pads were good for at least 15000 miles, though my mate who did Africa only managed 4000 miles out of a set - mad bugger!
I spent a bit of time sorting out the dents, doing a reasonable paint job with an electric spray-gun - not the most brilliant of devices as the nozzle becomes clogged from time to time, but a hell of a lot cheaper than paying a paint shop. The result was that the bike gleamed in the sunlight by the time I was ready to sell it. £1750 it went in for, and £1600 in used fifties fell into my hands. That meant I'd had 10,000 miles of enjoyable riding for nothing! Even better, dear reader, there are lots of tatty, battered, XT600's out there at cheap prices that can be similarly renovated. Just do a compression test to make sure the piston and bore are okay.
James Williamson